Just a War
by phantom and potter Obsession
Summary: Discontinued unless requested to continue
1. Chapter 1

Evvy surveyed the familiar Yanjingi landscape. The area around her was green and full of plant life. It had very few stones, she noted with vexation. Undoubtedly they were crumbled beneath the parasitic roots of the crops grown on the farmlands in this area. "Can we stop? I'm so tired," Evvy whined, drumming her heels on her camel in boredom.

Briar, Rosethorn, and her camel glared at her. "No," Rosethorn said shortly. "We're too close to your village to stop now."

Evvy made a face. The village where she had grown up had been an oasis of wooden homes with neat gardens, bordered by farms. Every stone that dared to be seen within miles of the village had been ejected. Evvy guessed that this was why she had always been edgy there when she was young.

They had received word a week ago that Evvy's family knew they were coming. They were delighted to have their youngest daughter return home, they said. Evvy and her two companions where welcome in their home. Somehow Evvy doubted that they would have given her such an open-armed greeting if she had not discovered her magic.

"Is that is?" Briar asked, pointing into the distance. Evvy shaded her eyes and looked ahead. There was a cluster of small homes about half a mile away, deep into the middle of nowhere. _'Well Evvy,'_ she thought to herself, _'welcome home.'_

A/N I know it's a short chapter. This is just the prologue, and it has little to do with the story, but I thought it would be a good way to open the story. Review please, and tell me what you think.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N- I'm SO sorry I wasn't able to publish this, I was grounded. It's a little late, please tell me if you catch any mistakes, and remember that reviews are my friends.

Briar knelt in the rich fields outside Evvy's home, feeling the joy of the green life around him. "These fields look good," he said in Yanjingi to the farmer who tended the fields, after a long and thorough examination of the plants. "Are there any others you are worried about?"

"No," the man replied. "I think you have seen the whole village. Thank you for blessing the fields." The man bowed and strolled off. Briar wondered how he had seen the entire village in less than one day. Where had all the time gone?

Briar sighed. He'd promised Sandry he'd find out about the silk of Yanjing, why it was the empire of silk. "Get this over with," he muttered, stretching. The plants leaned over as if to tell him to stay. "Hey, enough of that," he scolded. "I promised my sister I'd find out some things." He strolled off regretfully. It was such a treat to see so many well-tended fields and gardens. He took the time to look around. Not one dead leaf was in sight, not one flower crushed. _Yanjing may be famous_ _for its silk,_ he thought, _but they sure can garden too._

Briar arrived at the house of the village elder's wife, the expert silk weaver. "Mage Moss!" she greeted him. "It is such an honor to have you here! How may I serve you?" She bowed, and awaited his answer.

"Well, I'm here because my sister back home is interested in weaving," he began, thinking with amusement that he had spoken the understatement of the century. "I have come to ask how you make the famous Yanjingi silk, to bring home stories of it to her."

"Ah, the Yanjingi silk," the woman said, smiling. "The tradition goes back many, many generations. My family has always made it, for many generations. And you wish to know all the traditions, yes?"

Briar inclined his head yes. "It would do me a great honor," he said formally.

The elderly lady smiled. "Well, the common people such as me weave a silk called penchi silk," she began. "We use it to send secret messages. See here, this handkerchief," she spoke, removing the square of cloth from her pocket and laying it flat along the table. "It is red, to speak of war, but the stitching is yellow, to speak of peace. It says we are at war, but I want peace. And the diagonal line in the horizontal and vertical of the cloth, it speaks of my sons lost to the war. The thread that is black, speaks of the destruction of villages here, while the red splash on it says we must not forget the war zone."

"All together it means?" Briar prodded, anxious to get this done and get back to the joys of Yanjing's gardens.

The lady sighed contentedly at his interest. "It means we are at war, but I want peace, for I have lost sons to the war, and it destroys Yanjingi and Gyongxian homes alike. When the war is over I shall burn a corner, to symbolize that it was a past war."

"Wow," Briar said, fixing this in his memory.

The old woman smiled. "The farmers need you," she said, "far more than an old lady like me. Go to them, enrich our fields, and we honor you for your great service."

Briar left the house, and wandered aimlessly through the gardens, then double-checked a few fields, not that it was necessary. He sighed, and went the home of Evvy's family.

He entered to a fast-flowing argument in Yanjingi. Evvy's face was screwed up in anger and purple as she shouted at her mother, and was yelled at right back.

"They want her to stay with them," Rosethorn said. "To keep the rocks out." She placed her hands on her hips and scowled at the pair.

Briar rolled his eyes. Drastic measures called for drastic action. He darted between the quarreling pair.. "I'm sure we can work this out," he said, stumbling over the words. "Evvy must continue to learn her magic, and she must travel with me to do so," he said. "But she can come back after completing her studies."

Evvy muttered something under her breath. Her mother turned to Briar. "I _never _want to see that—that insolent girl again!" she cried out. "Get out, get out! You are no longer welcome," she snarled.

"With pleasure," Evvy snapped. She whistled, and her cats came running into their baskets, a trick she had taught them in her spare time. "See you never," she told her mother.

Briar shrugged and packed to leave, Rosethorn joining him silently. They were seen off with hostile faces from Evvy's family and disappointed faces as the rest of the village turned out to see them leave. Briar put them behind him. "Where will we go now?" he asked Rosethorn.

The woman thought for a moment. "Well, we should continue," she said. "We'll go to the Living Circle Temple in Gyongxe."


	3. Chapter 3

A/N\Disclaimer-I didn't update for so long because I was in court for forgetting my disclaimers. Really, 'tis the truth! Ok no it's not. But I don't own Circle. I own Yalib's character! …Like I'd want to.

"Gyongxe?" Briar asked. "Aren't they at war with Yanjing?"

"Yes, they are," Rosethorn replied. "However, it is the home of the main Living Circle Temple, the mother of Winding Circle you could say."

"Well, it's better than having no destination," Briar said.

"Or staying with my family," Evvy said to him.

Briar grinned. "We were there for one day, _one day! _And they kicked us out. Good job Evvy."

Evvy bowed dramatically from camelback. "I try," she said with a mock grin. A war though? This was… nerve wracking. She guessed from Briar's unusual peppiness that the idea of willingly going into a country that was at war was not sitting well with him.

"It's not like we're Gyongxian," Rosethorn assured them. "We'll all be fine."

"Gyongxe?" an unfamiliar voice to the left whispered.

Evvy started. "Did you hear that?" she asked Rosethorn. The woman shook her head. She turned to Briar, who gave her a perplexed look. She frowned, and jumped off her camel. The girl crept to the bushes and pulled them apart to reveal the person sitting behind them.

The boy was maybe two years older than Evvy. He wore a ragged uniform of the Imperial Army, torn and stained. He looked familiar… "Yalib?" Evvy asked, recognizing the village elder's second son.

The young man straightened and peered into her face. "Evvumeimei?" he asked. "I thought you had gone to Chammur. That is what your family said. In any case, you should not go to Gyongxe. It is very dangerous. The war is progressing very swiftly. It is not a fit place for anyone to be."

Evvy frowned. "Come to think of it, I thought you'd joined the Imperial Army trainee section just before I left."

"I did," Yalib said. "But I deserted. Gyongxe is a nightmare Evvumeimei. The country is full of looters, there is no vegetation left, the natives are starving, and the emperor himself resides in a new for there so that he can oversee the torture, murder, and enslavement of the innocents. You must stay away from it."

Evvy blinked. "But I'm Yanjingi. So I'll be fine, right?" she asked the pompous young man.

"No, you might be fine, but your companions will not," Yalib explained. He glanced around uneasily. "I am not safe in the open. The penalty for deserting is death." He spoke as stiffly and primly as before, but Evvy could hear the note of apprehension in his voice. "Come to my hiding place with me if you wish, to continue this discussion."

Rosethorn nodded to Evvy. "Okay," she agreed. "Where is your hiding place?"

"It is a cave, beyond the fields. I share it with Luvo," Yalib answered, beginning to walk.

"Luvo?" queried Briar. "Who's Luvo?"

"The better question is _what _is Luvo," Yalib answered properly. "And that, I cannot tell you per se. Luvo is a strange creature. He is aware and intelligent, and he can be rather hostile. I am not sure what he is." (A/N-any takers on what Luvo is so I can incorporate it into the fic? Let me know now so I can change it.) Yalib stopped speaking, for they had reached a small, nondescript cave. He pushed apart the reeds that blocked the entrance, and was followed in by Evvy, Rosethorn, and Briar.


End file.
